Understanding The Owl Document Management Permissioning Model (A PHP Application)

Owl is a Open Source document management system (download link at the end of this document) written in PHP that my company, the FuzzyGroup, recently installed for a client.  The client asked us for additional documentation on the permissioning model that Owl uses and rather than write it solely for this client, we thought it better to blog the information for permanent reference.  To be specific, our client asked us:

There are a lot of options to chose from under restrictions when uploading. Could you explain some of the terms you used. i.e. write? Does that mean you can write on the downloaded document? Could you please just clarify the options and which ones are best?

==> Read Story <==

5:11:48 PM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This   

The Server From Hell

I spent the past few days on site at a client helping set up blogging software and some content management tools.  Much of that time was spent working in a true 'raised floor" server room and on the server from hell.  Why do I call it the server from hell you ask?  Was it lack of a comfortable chair?  No.  Was it underpowered?  No (big ass Compaq).  The issue was much more simple: 16 Color Video !  Yup.  Believe it or not the default Windows 2000 Server install is still a 16 color driver in 800x600 mode unless you install a new video driver.  And since it wasn't my box, I didn't feel right about installing a video driver.  So if you can imagine configuring web based blogging tools with their rich look and feel but seeing only 16 colors worth, that was my experience.  Tres odd indeed. 

And why was I directly on the server?  Well the software had to be installed and there was the usual fumbling around where you install / reinstall since that is generally the fastest way to abort false starts.  Since you really don't install server side software remotely on a Windows box, that necessitated my working server side.  And then there were some admin options that could only be done locally. 

Here are a few recommendations for going on site to a brand new client / environment:

1. Bite the bullet and install the 256 color driver.  Even though I didn't, I should have done it or asked someone to do it.  It would have made the process much faster and filled with less "eye pain".
   
2. Stick a granola bar in your brief case.  I ended up skipping lunch one of the two days and was thinking longingly of food options I had at home.
   
3. Don't toss out the travel directions to their office after day 1.  What started as just one day turned into two.  I had tossed the directions after day 1 thinking I was done and had to dig them up again.
   
4. Cross sell if you can.  I ended up helping the client with a personal copy of Inbox Buddy that they tried on their own (so at least I didn't whore myself out too badly by pushing it on them).
   
5. Don't be afraid to ask for internal help where you need it.  The client had used the Windows 2000 automatic DNS registration which apparently doesn't work with OSX based network clients.  So I had to get assistance with getting the server properly into their DNS.  Since this wasn't the expertise I was brought in for
   
6. Document, Document, Document!  After making a bunch of system configuration changes on day 1 and failing to document them properly (if you don't specify that you want something document, consultants, like anyone else, probably won't do it), a big chunk of what I did on day 2 was to document every single server side setting I changed.  Thankfully since we had blogging tools working at that point I was able to just blog the documentation which made it pretty painless.
   
7. Don't Always Blame Their Environment!  Like a lot of companies these days, this one had Internet tracking and login software so that every site an employee went to was logged.  Part of the project was to install a client side blogging tool which as one of its installation steps goes out and talks to a registration server at the company that made it.  On every machine we tried installing the software, the installation would fail at the step where it talked to the registration server.  And since we tried both on PC and OSX machines, I initially blamed the tracking software (it wasn't actually a proxy software; something different) and figured that it was interfering with the underlying network calls to the registration server. 
   
   Then we tried installing on a laptop which was hooked to a DSL connection via WiFi only to find that the installation failed here too.  It wouldn't have been a big deal if the software had an error message which described "registration server not available" or some such.  Instead it just sat there making us think that the environment was at fault.  This came close to causing us to conclude "It won't work in our environment; next product please!".  Thankfully we tried again on day #2 and it worked correctly.
   
   Note to Companies Selling Network Enabled Software: Error Messages Rule!  No matter how good your server farm is, it probably isn't truly 5 9s availability which means that if you can't install the software without the server farm always being up then you are going to have clients getting hosed.  Good error messages mean they just won't say "Screw it" and move on.  Sure they might but when people at least know there is a problem then they'll try again instead of taking the assumption that we almost made.

Comment: I know that I'm weak on details here but I'm thoroughly NDA'd and can't really give much more.

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Open Source, Microsoft and the SEC

This is an astonishing admittment:

Microsoft Corp. may in the future be forced to lower its software prices as a result of the growth of open source, the company cautioned in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In its latest 10-Q quarterly filing, Microsoft said that the popularization of the open-source movement continues to pose a significant challenge to its business model.

This threat includes "recent efforts by proponents of the open source model to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of open source software in their purchase and deployment of software products.

"To the extent the open source model gains increasing market acceptance, sales of the company's products may decline, the company may have to reduce the prices it charges for its products, and revenues and operating margins may consequently decline," it said.

At the root of the problem for Microsoft is the challenge open-source software presents to its traditional business model—which is based on customers paying to license its software. Under this commercial software development model, software developers bear the costs of creating the software but receive license payments for its use.

But the open-source movement has turned that model on its head. Now, software is produced by global communities of programmers, with the resulting software and intellectual property licensed to end users at little or no cost, the filing said.

Here is also the Slashdot discussion on this.  [_Go_]

One obvious comment is that Microsoft has a history of crying wolf finanically and then delivering absolutely stellar results.  And this makes it hard to know how honest this statement is.  Still it is *damn* astonishing.

9:11:54 AM      Google It!   comment []    IM Me About This